Development Control on Urban Road Reserves in Kenya: A Case Study on Compliance with Planning Standards

An efficient road network remains among the topical issues in the international urban development forum. This is because roads link interrelated land uses, in addition to connecting them with the contiguous metropolitan areas, thus a key contributing factor for an accelerated socio-economic uplift. To sustain this, planning standards that delimit urban road reserves are usually prepared and enforced through development control to ensure that roads are maintained for their intended purpose. This study through a case study was, therefore, undertaken in Kisii Town, Kenya, to investigate if the unauthorized developments on road reserves are regulated. It correspondingly tests the hypothesis that there is no statistically significant difference between the planning standards used in regulating road reserves and observed compliance by developers. The study was steered by the public interest theory of regulation targeting residential developments which were proportionately and randomly drawn from the seven neighbourhoods. Data were collected using a high-resolution satellite image and a questionnaire. Data analysis relied on GIS, t-test, logistic regression, and linear regression. Research findings demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the approved planning standards and the extent of compliance by developers, signifying that the County Government of Kisii did not undertake adequate development control. Non-compliance was mostly heightened by the developers’ unawareness of the building plan approval process and inadequate inspection during construction. This study deepens the international debate on development control by spatially and statistically illuminating how the extent of compliance with the planning standards that regulate road reserves may be empirically analyzed.